11-15-04 @ 10:02 am EST

Aha! An e-mail today explained the little conundrum I had in my last entry concerning Chimney Rock's apparent duplication of itself on Mackinac Island. O_o

I mentioned the strange map to the lady I've been writing to and she explained that at some point in the past, there were, in fact, TWO Chimney Rocks on Mackinac Island...one was called Chimney Rock...and the other was called Sunset Rock.

Apparently Chimney Rock collapsed at some point in the past; she isn't sure when, but I'm guessing post-Forties due to it being on the map in the book. (Could be wrong on that though; keep reading.)

The remaining stack, Sunset Rock, somehow also became known as Chimney Rock. I do not know how or why this happened--why BOTH formations had the same name--but there you go. Two Chimney Rocks. The one still in existence is the one formerly (and still sometimes) known as Sunset Rock.

This now leaves me with a whole NEW set of conundrums:

* How come this is the only map ever to include both formations--even out of antiquated maps? This map is mid-Forties and I've seen much older ones--NONE list two formations.

* How come the older mapmakers so easily confused the two Chimney Rocks with each other--couldn't they get their facts straight? See the last entry--this is in fact the explanation why Chimney Rock's position along the shoreline kept changing when I perused different maps. The two locations given match those of the two Chimney Rocks on the Forties map! Yet the name "Sunset Rock" wasn't used, that I can recall.

* I have a wood etching JPG image from 1872 of the Fairy Arch, and another one of "Chimney Rock." I just assumed this was the one called Sunset Rock, still around today and just bought back by the park last year. Because, well...I thought there was only one Chimney Rock! Now I have to wonder...which Chimney Rock am I really looking at in this picture??

And lastly and kind of embarrassingly...

* HOW THE HELL AM I GOING TO ACCOUNT FOR THIS IN MY WRITING?? I already hit on a solution to my misplacement of the Fairy Arch up on the bluff when it's supposed to be down on the shore--it will be "magically" moved, either at the end of RTMI or sometime during EFMI, down to the shore, by the Island itself--Niskigwun and Charmian are set to make a big deal over it. But...two Chimney Rocks?? This wouldn't be so bad if I had gone with the name of "Sunset Rock" for MY Chimney Rock, the one Charmian climbs up on in RTMI...she never saw the formation before (I hadn't known about it yet), as the Island had "hidden" it from her view--that's how I've explained all the formations I didn't know about during earlier writings, the Island "hid" them until it trusted her enough to see them. If I had gone with the name "Sunset Rock," I could easily bring in the original Chimney Rock at some point in the future, and gladly would. But since I settled on the name "Chimney Rock" rather than Sunset Rock for the NEW rock...I would be stuck with TWO Chimney Rocks!! And that would just be confusing!

*reader scratches head and says, "I'm already confused..."*

*deep breath* Meaning...I should have really gone with the name Sunset Rock for the modern-day Chimney Rock...but since "Chimney Rock" seems to be the name most in usage today, that was what I went with. If I'd only known. >_< They use BOTH names on it in RTMI, so I can't exactly fudge over that. Gar! This is a sticky one. I thought I was so clever to come up with the moving of the Fairy Arch, and the hiding of all the other formations, but this one, I really have no clue how to figure it out.

Really truly stuck on this one. o_o;